Boards

Already drawing (completely justified) comparisons with Sonic Youth, The Fall, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr and Pixies, Belfast's Yakuza are the most exciting new group to emerge out of nowhere, quite benignly, and then tear your face off with a fine skew-whiff blend of guitar-shagging hero-ness, massive hooks and pant-shitting terror. Their debut album, 'One Nation Under-Awed' is out now on their own label, and it's fantasic. Left-field legends in the making, for sure.

DJEVARA - http://www.djevara.co.uk

Djevara are what nu-metal SHOULD have sounded like, if people had actually listened to the bands that inspired it like Rage Against The Machine, Faith No More and Jane's Addiction rather than blindly following Korn, Korn, Korn, Korn and Limp Fucking Bizkit. It's a testament to the might of overpowering funk, white hot fury and devastating guitar assault that despite their obvious debts to history, Djevara sound completely, vitally, gloriously here and, most importantly, NOW. Throw a shape. Throw a horn. Throw a brick.